


Happily ever after, they said

by LetUsWriteItOut



Series: Friday Mishap Series [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, M/M, Multi, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:54:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28712352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetUsWriteItOut/pseuds/LetUsWriteItOut
Summary: Now that the guys are all together, they are doing well. Until an unlikely foe appears, and might just make them question everything.Friday Mishap sequel.Re-upload.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Friday Mishap Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998826
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	1. Days of Our Lives

"Don't go," Tony begged Steve when he was getting up, just when Bucky also decided to follow suit.

"Tony... I can't be late for work."

"Which is hours and hours away," Tony mentioned.

"Yes, but you wouldn't like how restless I'd become if I skip my morning run," Steve said, but haven't left yet, looking at him as if torn.

"I believe I can list some ways we could deal with your restlessness," Tony suggested.

"As tempting as that sounds, I don't have a suit to hide in if I get fat," Steve had to say that, making Tony gasp.

"Did you just called me fat?"

"I only complimented Bucky's cooking. Now, can I go?"

"You did this on purpose, so I let you. And here I thought playing dirty so early in the morning isn't like you, Steve."

"He must have picked up a couple of tricks from you," Bucky joined the conversation.

"Did he, now?" Tony wondered. "But it doesn't mean you can't sleep in."

"Breakfast won't prepare itself," Bucky kissed him, but he was already fully dressed and ready for the day as well.

"It could. We could order in, I could make a couple of robots do it, or I'd even employ a full-time live-in kitchen staff if Steve wouldn't want to eat-"

"We've talked about this," Steve also kissed him goodbye.

"I know, I know, since you're so kind to remind me ever so often. No throwing money at our everyday problems as it was a solution for everything when there are so many less fortunate and charities exist for a reason, got it," Tony sighed as Steve only left with an apologetic smile. "But still, every once in a while, it would be nice not to wake up to an empty bed, despite having not one but two boyfriends."

"Whining might work on Steve, but look how quickly he ran away," Bucky teased.

"I'm just a champion of honesty now," Tony corrected. "Would deserve a price for that or something, if you ask my humble opinion."

"So it has nothing to do with you realizing how Steve can't say no to you if he finds you irresistible?"

"Am I?" Tony asked, only trying to turn the volume on the said attribute in return instead of dialing it down.

"Stop it," Bucky, however, wasn't so easy to trick as Steve. Or at least, that's what Tony thought, but just when he gave up and pulled the covers back up to get some more sleep with a frustrated groan, he still heard. "And I might give you a small reward later."

"Is that a bribe, Barnes?" Tony was alert once again. "What is it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"You know how I have to."

"Well then, let me start my day now, only ten minutes behind schedule, and you will," and Bucky also left.

"You. Are. Both. So. Cruel," Tony told the ceiling, thinking he might as well just get up now and do some work if breakfast would be ready in half an hour, and he was fully awake anyway. Not to mention, his backlog grew since they started dating, so he could use the extra time.

Only, he didn't make it to breakfast and haven't noticed Bucky until he spoke up.

"So, about that reward. I don't keep track, is Christmas far away?"

"Only about 7 months out," Tony told him. "But if you're offering, I appreciate a lap dance any time of the year."

"Maybe some other time," Bucky didn't blush as Steve sometimes did when hearing some crude comment from Tony. "But that wouldn't be a present for both of you."

"It could be. I'd happily watch you give Cap one. In fact, I insist you should, so I can watch his reaction."

"If anyone, you should do it then and see it for yourself," Bucky didn't miss a beat when saying. "I'd let you practice on me if you want."

"Friday, do you see what I have to deal with? I become completely open and a changed man for them, and it turns out all they wanted was just a stripper."

"My programming doesn't allow me to meddle or comment on your private affairs," Friday told him. "But generally speaking, I'm happy you've seemed to found your purpose in the last 14 months, boss."

Bucky tried to hide a grin hearing the second part but failed horribly.

"Soon she might become worse than Jarvis, mark my words," Tony didn't expect such an answer, but ever since he had Friday back, only rewriting some code so she wouldn't interfere in his relationships, his complaints were only for show.

"Well, if you want me to give you two some privacy, then the surprise will have to wait I guess," Bucky said.

"I'm listening," Tony quickly offered.

"Here," Bucky put a notebook in front of him and opened it up on a page that was marked with a post-it. "I present to you: Christmas gift options number one, so far."

Tony took a look at a sketch and wondered what this was about. It represented a metal suit that was capable of flying, but it wasn't his, and he honestly didn't think it was Bucky who drew it.

"Who on earth uses pencil and paper anymore?" he wondered out loud, looking for clues.

"Who do you think? He doesn't know I stole his secret sketchbook though, so I have to put it back where I've found it before he gets home, but that should give us a couple of hours to use it," Bucky told him.

"I'm confused," Tony admitted.

"Steve sometimes draws, although he's quite shy about people seeing it. So it took me about one whole minute to find this, but that's only because I know all the places he'd think to hide things," Bucky seemed proud of that.

"Remind me to relocate my porn next, living with you," Tony noted thinking Howard never mentioned this, nor any of the records of Cap, wondering if that was exactly how history was censored in so many other instances as well.

"Actually, there are some portraits of you naked as well, let me see if I can find one."

Tony wouldn't have believed it, but Bucky only flipped through some drawings, and there he was.

Just as on the next page, Tony discovered himself in Bucky's arms, sleeping, with not too many garments on either. It was artsy, he'd give Steve that, but also...

"Imagine what Steve would do if he didn't like us. We need to get rid of this, fast, before Nat sees, and sends it to everyone, or make copies."

"I wouldn't mind a copy, we look good," Bucky told him with a challenging look.

"Should I make one, in an extra-large size?" Friday chirped in, eager to "help" as ever.

"Shut it, Burger King drive-in," Tony told her.

"Maybe that could be my Christmas present since Stevie made it, and we're both on it, but anyway," Bucky got back to the marked page. "If you look closely, Steve designed himself a suit just for fun, and I thought we could make him one for real."

"We?"

"Mostly you, while I'd do my best to help by doing the heavy lifting. Literary, like helping you with the equipment or the materials," Bucky offered.

"And what's in it for me?" Tony asked. "Spending all that time and money on a suit Steve might or might not like?"

"The challenge? Don't pretend as if making your rockets millimeters smaller with ever-growing firepower is satisfying."

"The more compact and potent they get, the more I can fit, you know," Tony warned.

"I know, I have been watching you do just that for months now," Bucky told him in return with a daring tone, despite the look that sentence earned from Tony's side. "But if you design Steve a suit, his unique fighting style would require you to switch up some stuff, and maybe even give you some new ideas for yours."

"Even if that's the most awesome idea I've heard from an Avenger in weeks," Tony admitted, making Bucky chuckle. "There is a reason why I'm the only one in a suit for combat."

"And Rhodey."

"He stole that."

"You constantly upgrade it for him," Bucky pointed out.

"Then let me put it this way: nobody else needs a suit but the completely average humans who don't have any power otherwise."

"I wouldn't exactly call you 'average'," Bucky said.

"If you think flattery will get me to build this, you're on the right track, don't stop now," Tony agreed.

"I was talking about your genius mind."

"But now you're thinking about something else?" Tony suggested as if it wasn't his doing.

"So is that a no to my brilliant idea?" Bucky also moved closer, as if ready to kiss Tony, but still kept an excruciatingly small distance between them.

"No, but quite frankly I'm not yet convinced why it would be such a great idea, Castle," Tony told him.

"Because it would help us keep Steve safer?"

"He'd only lose his speed and agility and would get annoyed quickly by it, probably. Pretending to like it only for our sakes."

"It would be a big adjustment, yes, but he'd be bulletproof, and I expect you can make the suit more nimble if you don't stack so many weapons in it. And we already have an idea about the design, thanks to Steve."

"You really want this," Tony could see it in Bucky's eyes, and it was a bit surprising. "But there is a good reason why I stopped manufacturing weapons."

"Because you got betrayed and your designs were used unlike you thought they were, Nat told me. But you know Steve would never do that."

"I thought it's called betrayal exactly because the people you trusted to never do something like that still did," Tony argued, trying to switch the topic next. "And since when are you hanging with 'Nat'?"

"I share the same gym schedule with her and Clint now, even though I was there first. They told me to get over it," Bucky shrugged.

"If I was allowed to make a rich-person suggestion which I'm not, I could offer to justify to Steve why we need a private gym just for us, bringing some equipment to an empty room on our floor, if they're bothering you."

"I got used to their antics, but thank you anyway. I should get this back to our room and let you work," Bucky closed the sketchbook.

"Look, it's not how I don't trust Steve. But we've seen mind-washing alien staffs before, and it's true, I probably wouldn't be able to stop Steve if he had a suit the same," Tony didn't want Bucky to think he just dismissed his idea without good reason.

"On your own, definitely not. But even if that happened, I would be there to help, because that's what we do. Just as I'm sure all the Avengers would," Bucky had a completely different view.

"Unless you're taken over as well. And others."

"So, I was right. You don't want to do it. You're fine with him being strong, but not too strong because you only trust him as long as you're capable of kicking his ass, just in case. A bit controlling if you ask me."

"That's not what I meant," Tony, for the record, had to state. "And if anyone, I thought you'd understand what it feels like when you have no control!"

He spoke without thinking, so when he realized what he just said, he quickly retreated.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that..."

"Well, to be brutally honest the same: I don't think you should be even on the field," Bucky then announced.

"I'm not that weak," Tony's voice grew unintentionally quiet.

"Of course not," the soldier kept eye contact so firmly it was impossible to look away. "But if it was up to me, you'd be in charge of designing everyone James Bond-like weapons they can all use, just like Howard once did, and wouldn't even need to come to fight if we were all stronger thanks to you."

"I'm not my father or your wife either. And just FYI: in this century, not even women-"

"Isn't the point of having friends to rely on them sometimes?"

Tony just stared at Bucky.

"The day I'll sit on my ass while you're all risking your lives out there will never come," he told the soldier the obvious.

"And I didn't ask you to," Bucky sighed. "Only to maybe give Steve a tool to help him protect you better."

"Newsflash, I don't need protection, I can protect myself just fine. Always have, always will, even if it turns out you're only asking me to do a suit for Steve because I'm just human, unlike you and your boyfriend," if it would have been any other Avenger or someone from SHIELD suggesting something like that, Tony would have kicked them out of his workshop already, just to not speak to them for months next.

But this was Bucky, who was with him even when Steve couldn't, who shared his weird sense of humor, and who was always there for him ever since they started dating.

"Our boyfriend. If not partner," Bucky corrected, and pulled him into a crushing hug, no matter how Tony wanted to veto it. At first. "Look, forget it. I thought it would be cool but clearly, we disagree. How 'bout I start an early lunch, and you try to work on forgiving me in the meantime?"

"I'm not mad at you," Tony said, but he could tell Bucky didn't believe him when he pulled away, ready to leave. "Just... all my life I kept hearing stories about how I didn't compare to men like Steve, and you're telling me I'm weak doesn't help."

"I'm only telling you I care too much for the both of you to get hurt," Bucky kissed him on the cheek. "Exactly because of how much you mean to me, not just Stevie."

Seeing Bucky's face as he was leaving, Tony only meant to take a peek at Steve's drawing once again, contemplating if it was even possible. Then he ended up scanning it in and could pull up a 3D model of the 2D relatively easily.

What he didn't count on was when Bucky got back with food, he'd be too immersed in the plans to even notice him.

"I told you to forget it, is this how you listen?"

"Jesus, you're overprotective, but in the end will give me a heart-attack sneaking up on me like that," Tony jumped at least 6 feet if not screamed a little.

"Haven't you heard you should listen to what your elders tell you to do?"

"I haven't heard you come in, that's exactly what I'm saying! But look," Tony motioned for the holo to take it to the bigger screen. "I believe I could even incorporate his shield. I threw out 25.9% weight so far, but it's still work in progress. And then we could also add things especially for Steve."

"You started working on it and now you can't stop," Bucky was right. "And it's my fault because I guilt-tripped you into it, it seems."

"I'm glad you say that because if the others ask why they don't get one, I'll have you tell them."

"Maybe we could throw them off scent with something smaller first, then with time, you could design everyone one. I meant what I said in the sense that all along you kept on fighting because you had no other choice. But don't you think now that you've found friends you can trust with your life, you could do the design only and I don't know... take up knitting? Or rather, check up on what happened on the field of quantum physics lately or something worthy of your attention?"

Tony wasn't about to discuss his retirement plans now, or the lack thereof.

"So you want one too. You should have told me that from the beginning," he told Bucky smiling, expecting something funny or teasing remark back, but the super-soldier shook his head.

"You already gave me an arm."

"I could make Steve and you matching models, except the shield and the paint so we could still tell you apart, and make it work with your arm the same."

"No, really, please don't."

"Why not? You've just told me everyone should-" Tony didn't get it. Why would Bucky tell him how he should upgrade everyone's gear, but pass on the opportunity for himself?

"I'm claustrophobic."

Bucky had his own table in Tony's workshop since forever now after he'd spent so much time there. But he didn't use it, hanging with Tony always, bringing his chair over to Tony's.

So after what it seemed like a fight - even if it wasn't because neither of them was yelling, or throwing a tantrum, and both of them remained generally calm and understanding even if their opinions differed greatly - Tony didn't like how Bucky announced he'd rather let Tony work, and retreated to it.

And how Tony had a nudging feeling the claustrophobia excuse might as well be true, but Bucky only told him about it because this way he could cover up something else.


	2. The Fast and The Furious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I decided to change one tiny detail, but I don't think anyone can say what, so... nevermind?
> 
> Thank you all very much for reading! XOXO

Steve had always thought on some intrinsic level that he was given the responsibility to lead any team he ever worked with was because he was driven. A 110% kind of guy and he was only glad to get a chance to elevate what that percentage could do with the serum.

However, when he was fighting another brainless muscle on just another remote location SHIELD had sent him to, he realized a pop song got stuck in his head, and he was just punching his way to the rhythm, almost careless considering he was in combat.

And when he was training the kids and got frustrated with their behavior that was just them being teenagers (they could only work together with their usual group of friends, but the compatibility of their powers didn't always follow their preferences), he tuned out about 10 minutes instead of supervising them.

Served him right that some of his kids got into a fight because of this, and he got hit by a freezing "spell" when he tried to get them to break it off, making half of his body go numb for the whole afternoon.

"How was your day?" Bucky asked him when he got home, kissing him over the dinner he was cooking. Which turned out to be a surprise on its own.

"Since when do you cook Mexican as well?" Steve wondered.

"I generally don't, but Google is my friend, and this recipe was easy enough, here, try," Bucky carefully got some on the spoon.

"If I wasn't already, I'd date you even just for your cooking," Steve beamed at him because he was picky, but Bucky somehow always knew what he'd like to eat, and even managed to coordinate between his taste and Tony's flawlessly.

"Your flattery won't distract me."

"From?" Steve chuckled.

"You haven't answered my question," Bucky turned off the heat under the pan.

"It was OK," Steve shrugged. "Apart from how I might have suggested to two of my boys that it's possible they like each other before I even thought of what I was doing."

"I gotta hear this," Bucky flashed a grin at him.

"At least you're entertained," Steve noted. "They weren't, and quite frankly, neither was I. It's just... they are constantly picking on each other and got into a fight, and I wanted them to stop."

"So you told them it might be their way of expressing admiration?" Bucky was trying not to laugh.

"I told them the last person Tony Stark hated so desperately he ended up dating."

"Oh, so now you're telling the kids stories about me, that's..."

"I was talking about myself," Steve noted.

"...both flattering and kind of terrifying."

"I could have handled it differently," Steve admitted with a sigh.

Although there was a small chance he only did it because half of his brain froze as well, not just his side when he was hit in the crossfire, he wasn't about to bring that up.

"I think they'll behave," Bucky said.

"If I didn't antagonize them even further."

"If you did, you might be right about the attraction part."

"I doubt that," Steve huffed. "How was your day? Will Tony join us?"

"I saved him a plate," Bucky told him. "And I... sort of fucked up, and not in a funny way you did."

"You did?" Steve doubted that.

"Had a strong disagreement with Tony, only neither of us wanted to argue so it was like a civilized but harmful conversation," Bucky's expression hardened. "An almost surreal experience. I only wanted to tell him I care for both of you deeply, but instead, things got out of hand so quickly, I basically told him his place should be in the kitchen."

"You're the one cooking all the time," Steve pointed out.

"I told him he shouldn't be an Avenger," Bucky explained. "And while I still think that, I shouldn't have even mentioned it knowing how Howard treated him."

"So why did you?" Steve asked. "Mention it?"

"Does it matter?"

"I guess it doesn't if it's my fault," Steve pointed out, earning a very nasty look from Bucky.

"It's not, and you know that."

"Isn't it though? Just as in combat, if your team ignores a threat booming somewhere, you can't be surprised later if the enemy gets a strategic advantage on that location."

Only, it was his person, not personnel he'd have to rotate between all the tasks that were competing for his attention, but the shortage of resources felt exactly the same.

"But you are here," Bucky told him. "Doing the best you can working two jobs, if we don't count the whole world-saving business on top."

"I should be here more," Steve pointed out. "Obviously, I can't drop the kids, so I'm telling Fury I'll take on fewer missions."

Bucky shook his head.

"Stevie, you'd go crazy if you knew there was still a fight to be fought, and you weren't right in the middle of it."

"It's not war anymore," Steve stood his ground. "All I'm fighting nowadays are a couple of thugs who can't afford more expensive tech."

"But what if someone got hurt, and you could have been there to watch their backs? You'd never forgive yourself," Bucky looked at him almost as if angry, even for the suggestion.

"Are we having a fight without a fight too?" Steve tried to diffuse the tension by asking with an apologetic smile.

"Quitting your job won't solve the problem that I called Tony a control freak right to his face which started the whole shit," Bucky said, but still, on some level, Steve's strategy must have worked, because he relaxed a bit.

Which only showcased how worn out he looked without all that tension.

"How 'bout a date just the two of us, then?" Steve found himself suggesting. "And tomorrow I'll take a day off, convince Tony to join us, we've all earned it."

"What do you have in mind?" at least, there was a bit of curiosity in Bucky's voice then.

"One word: motorcycles. And no traffic so late."

"Let me give our otaku his dinner first," Bucky offered. "Then, I think I have the perfect playlist for driving, but you have to promise to never-ever show it to Tony."

Steve often went for a drive after he was defrosted, but almost forgot how relaxing it could be to concentrate only on the road ahead, even though it was why he took Bucky in the first place.

"This must be how it feels to be truly invincible," he told Steve after signaling they should pull over. "But we should get back. It's getting late."

"I'm sure Tony's also having fun, with his bots and pet projects," Steve mentioned.

"You hang out with telepaths way too much, Stevie," Bucky kissed him, and pulled away a couple of minutes later with a grin. "Race you there?"

"It would be hardly fair," Steve said.

"Yes, because Winter had a motorcycle and therefore I had plenty of practice," Bucky replied without missing a beat.

"As did I, working for SHIELD, and these are faster than the models you're used to," Steve cautioned.

"I understand if you're intimidated, Stevie," Bucky seemed to be invested to challenge him nevertheless. "After all, I'd make you do breakfast tomorrow if you lost, and probably even record you trying to salvage anything edible of the attempt."

"Oh, do you think you can beat me?" Steve was entertained, even though the last thing the world needed was a video of Captain America failing breakfast. "And what do I get if I win?"

"There is only one way to find out," Bucky answered both questions at once, and that was all the signal he gave to Steve the race started, getting a couple of seconds of a lead at first, only to be defeated later - but it was a close call.

That was all but forgotten soon, both of them clear - just as high on adrenaline - on what Steve's price would be, only making it to the bedroom because Steve first wrecked a Land Rover in the garage, pushing Bucky against the hood with such an impulse that it gave out, which sent them into a laughing fit.

"That was an expensive car," Bucky remarked only after they were sated, in bed, but still grinning at each other like two mischievous children.

"I'm sure SHIELD cars are insured for the unexpected, but even if not, it was still worth it," Steve looked at him.

"I'm just saying it's not something we can replace, so you'll have to probably explain Fury what happened," Bucky said.

"Training accident, completely my fault," Steve suggested. "But maybe this once I should convince Friday to 'lose' the footage of the time it happened, in case Fury wants it."

"Maybe. This once," Bucky kissed him, but then he began to dress back up.

"Going somewhere?" Steve reached out for him, not wanting to let him go.

"I better collect our third half," he told Steve.

"Your math doesn't make any sense."

"I can still count to 20, which is coincidentally the number of hours he's been working," Bucky said. "Any more, and he'll think of himself as one of his robots."

"We can't have that, I'm also coming with," Steve got up, and had already his pants on when his phone chimed, and he picked it up only to tell Fury he wanted a day off. "Listen, Director-"

"I need you on a mission, like, yesterday," Fury was living up to the title, being as direct as ever without hellos, or the courtesy of asking whether or not Steve was already asleep.

"What happened?" Steve asked because if it was something important, there was no way he wouldn't go.

"Friday says Stark hasn't left the Tower today, can you confirm that?" Fury unexpectedly asked.

"That's what I've been told," Steve said, now looking at Bucky, who only mouthed "what?" in return.

"Witnesses placed Iron Man on a crime scene," Fury then told him, making Steve almost immediately say.

"It has to be a setup, you know there is no other explanation."

"That's what I thought because it's not Tony's style to threaten to harm civilians," Fury agreed.

"WHAT?!" Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"We have the location of the suspect," Fury quickly said. "But someone is clearly trying to frame your boyfriend..."

"Buck, I'm so sorry, I need to go," Steve put his hand over the speaker. "I know I said I won't, but it's bad."

"...and what is worse, they had an Iron Man suit, even if you examine the footage closely, the small details of the design are different."

"Go," Bucky only kissed him, way more understanding than Steve felt like he deserved. "We'll still be here when you get back."

"I'm already on my way," Steve told Fury, who told him.

"Before you leave. If you had any way to keep Stark from the news just for now, I'd appreciate it," Fury said.

"You think it's a trap for him," Steve didn't even consider that, but he was preoccupied to say at least.

"And I rather not argue with him about it until we know more," Fury hung up, while Steve only turned to Bucky.

"Do you think you can keep Tony from the news? Fury thinks someone framed him wearing a suit to draw him out."

"And won't you be in danger then?" Bucky didn't waste time by asking what exactly happened, or argued why should they keep anything from Tony, only looking at Steve with concern.

"I'll take a team, don't worry."

"If they have one suit, they might have more," Bucky didn't think much about Steve's SHIELD colleagues, clearly, if not Steve himself. "At least take Thor and Bruce with you, or I'll have to get Tony."

"It's just another mission, Buck, I can handle it, and I'd rather not waste time," Steve said, frustrated how Bucky would probably never tell any other Avenger something like this.

"No, Stevie-"

"What's up, kids? Aren't you supposed to be in bed already?" Tony appeared before they could agree.

And Steve saw it in Bucky's eyes how he'd tell Tony everything, so Steve only had a couple of seconds to speak first.

"A criminal used a suit like yours, but we think it's a trap for you, so please let me handle it," he told Tony upfront despite Fury's warning, hoping this way he can be part of the discussion if Tony would want to go.

"Friday, give me all the info you can find," Tony told the AI. "How many suspects?"

"Just one, in a secluded area, but I also have bad news," Friday told them. "Based on the footage and some calculations I hope you don't mind I ran, this imposter suit is faster, lighter, and technically more advanced than yours, boss."

"See? And you wanted to go alone," Bucky gave Steve a look.

"Knowing this I won't, but Tony can't be there," Steve looked at Tony with concern.

"We should all go, and I mean the Avengers. Friday, could you wake them?" Tony at least conceded to get help, looking at Steve. "Also, how is Protocol Bambiraptor doing?"

"12% until completion of the first test model, boss."

"Let's just hope that's nothing important like the paint," Tony pulled out his phone to check.

"You can't be serious," Bucky now was on Tony for this protocol Steve knew nothing about.

Just as he missed out on Bucky cooking Mexican, or taking university classes online, or the two weeks when Tony and Bucky had a prank war that Bruce had to step in to stop because every other Avenger except Steve got sucked into it, having too much fun, until the pranks got way too dangerous.

"But I am," Tony stated. "And it was your idea."

"What was?" Steve wondered out loud.

"I suggested to Tony he could give you a modified suit," Bucky explained. "But I thought it will be finished, and that you'll have a chance to at least try it before flying it in combat."

"It flies?" Steve was shocked to say at least, turning to Tony. "And you want me to wear it right now?"

"Nobody came even close to replicating my suits, and if this one surpasses mine, we need all the help we can get," Tony told him.

"I guess I'll just learn the basic controls on the way there, and try to rely on Friday for the rest," Steve decided. He was both dying to see what Tony had made for him, while horrified he won't be able to control it properly.

"Which means you'll both be there before the Quinjet," Bucky surmised. "Tony's suit is outmatched, and Steve's not even finished. Does anyone else have a problem with that, or is it just me?"

"I believe I did suggest you should get one too, Buck," Tony told him.

"We could stay on perimeter engaging only if the guy attempts an escape," Steve said. After all, he was trying to teach his kids teamwork, so he should be listening to his own advice.

"If he isn't already gone," Tony noted. "And I still have to suit you up mostly manually, Steve, so probably the others would have to wait for us."

"So, whoever gets there first should wait for the rest of the team," Steve said.

"Deal," Bucky agreed, heading toward Nat and Clint, who were both ready to go. "Friday, please transfer the coordinates to the Quinjet."

"Already done, boss," the AI announced.

While Steve felt plain clumsy in the suit at first, and Tony trying to brief him about all the functions at once didn't help either, but finally Steve figured it wasn't that different than a motorcycle that also had a vertical axis. So he could manage it... better than fine because he was flying, and it was unbelievable.

"I don't ever wanna take it off," he told Tony over the comms. "Why walk anywhere when you can just fly?"

"It was Bucky's idea for a Christmas present, so you'll have to thank him, and pretend to be surprised," Tony flew closer to him. "Only, by then hopefully, it will be finished. And since you know, you can give me feedback on what should I change."

"Nothing," Steve executed a small spin in the air while keeping their speed and direction, and it was ridiculous how thrilled he was by such a small thing, but truth was, while he never considered he'd want to fly as well, it was different, finally not asking for rides in combat. "Well. Could you name it something else?"

"Bambiraptor is memorable, and I am putting feathers on a Dinosaur," Tony replied.

"You know they died out, yes?" Steve tried to point out.

"You won't, you're more like a bird now, just look at you," Tony said as if it was an encouragement, but then added. "Not at all like your pals in the Smithsonian."

"Can't decide whether I should thank you, or take offense," Steve sulked.

"As long as you don't activate Instant Kill while kicking my ass with the suit I gave you myself, we should be good," Tony told him his usual way of joking, but also, he wasn't.

"I think there are better ways to disarm you, Tony," Steve said in return, earning a small chuckle over the comms.

"Coincidentally, I might use the same methods if I wanted you to take off the suit now that you said you won't."

"What did you have in mind?" Steve asked, deliberately obtuse, also laughing.

"I'll better just show you later," Tony promised, just before they got a visual on the coordinates of the abandoned lot where they were going, and a single man greeted them seemingly unarmed. Until he saw them approach, and a suit enveloped him suddenly as if appearing from thin air. "What on Earth?!"

"Hi, Tony, I've expected you," and his suit didn't just resemble Tony's, but the stranger was talking to them on the comms, although Steve was still too much in disbelief to notice. "Not with company, but you work with what you have, I guess."


	3. We're F!cked up in a Beautiful Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from song Beautiful Way by You Me At Six.

It was easy to do the right thing if Bucky had to do it for Steve.

Whenever he was scared shitless, just knowing he had no choice but to tough it out, so Steve wouldn't know helped. When he enlisted, when he was experimented on, and even when he had to return after Hydra, it was child's play.

But what about when his love for Steve and the thing he knew he needed to do had pulled him into two opposite directions?

"We got this, go," Nat told him, but that was a deliberate lie.

They didn't have it. Not even close. The Quinjet was shot down from the sky even before they could reach their destination Thor saving all lives aboard, then Iron Man suits were attacking them from every direction.

Even Thor and Hulk had their hands full of them, and Clint was more of a liability, no higher ground or cover he could take in the middle of nowhere.

Not to mention, how all the suits were dangerous, but each one had different equipment - just as Tony's collection - and they never knew what attack they'd face next. Apart from the signature Iron Man attacks, that is.

And the more Bucky, Nat, and Clint tried to get the upper hand, even their combined attacks - the less success they had destroying the suits.

"They are monitoring our formations and adapting their strategy accordingly," Sam drew a conclusion Bucky had instinctively noticed already but didn't yet fully realize until then. "We should only use full power if we can be sure it will take one out."

"Isn't this Stark Tech though? Ran by some advanced AI like Friday?" Scott asked. "Are we sure it's not Tony's way of saying we aren't welcome in the Tower anymore?"

"That suit has tech I kept asking Tony for, and he doesn't have it," Rhodey told them between two punches.

"Or he just didn't want to share it with you?" Scott wondered.

"I imagine if friend Stark controlled these shells he'd know these machines can only keep us busy, but not stop us, and would be here too," Thor pointed out.

And Bucky, who wanted to send Scott to hell, realized something else.

"It's a distraction. Tony and Steve are the ones really in danger," he muttered.

"Would hate to see what that looks like if this is just the warm-up," Clint noted. "Maybe you should go and check on them, Barnes."

"I can't leave you."

That's when Nat also told him to go, and even though Bucky wanted to, he hesitated.

"I'm running calculations on the best strategy we can employ," Vision told him.

"You heard the man, we'll figure something out," Scott also said, redeeming himself for his last comment in Bucky's eyes. "I'm just waiting for Vision to tell me when to go big and take care of these annoying little bugs."

"Besides, Barnes, this fight is more for Thor, Wanda, and Vision than us," Clint pointed out. "Maybe Tony and Steve could benefit from your help more anyway if they aren't fighting the same tech."

"And even if they do, then it would only mean they need backup desperately, so you should check them and report back to us if nothing else," Nat added in complete agreement.

"I'll keep the channel open," Bucky said, closing the distance between their position and the target coordinates fast.

Getting there though, he must have been dumbfounded, if only stopping for a minute before joining the fight, because even the second Iron Man Tony and Steve were fighting noticed.

"Look who it is," he told Bucky. "Fashionably late, and not much of a help?"

And he wasn't holding back either, so Bucky had to put distance between himself and the suit, escaping some explosions only by a hair.

"I'd be the first to admit I'm not particularly sane since Hydra," Bucky told Steve and Tony. "But doesn't he sound exactly like...?"

"Yeah, he didn't only steal my tech, but also my looks," Tony told him. "Who can blame him."

"You mean to say he's a Skrull?" Bucky asked. Steve had some joint missions with one, and mentioned them, but they seemed to be the good guys.

"You wish," the other Tony spoke up, using their "secure" channel.

"He isn't fighting like Loki either," Steve mentioned, barely avoiding a rocket as well. "Not to mention, he knows all of our secure channels."

"We have to warn the others," Bucky said, trying, but nobody responded.

"He must be jamming the signal," Tony told him, executing a series of attacks only to make way for a bigger blow, but he was shot by the other Iron Man before he could get to that, falling to the ground. "Oh, and his weapons are waaay more advanced than mine, have I already mentioned that?"

"You are more pathetic than I first thought, have I already mentioned that?" the impostor asked in a similar fashion, targeting Tony - until Bucky and Steve both jumped to attack him, but were forced to retreat soon enough. "Killing you quick will be a mercy, Trakarsky. Friday, modify the data you already have with how they are all fighting together, and devise countermeasures ASAP."

"5% is already complete, boss," Friday said.

"Friday has been hacked?" Steve asked.

"No, she has contingencies, even against shapeshifter aliens," Tony told him. "Friday, shut down your calculations."

"I'm afraid I can't, boss."

"Override," Tony tried.

"Can't," Friday said.

"Why not?"

"My standing orders were clear: if you desire my help in everyday tasks, I can provide it to you to keep Operation Skin hidden as long as it's possible."

"What is that?" Bucky wondered.

"I not permitted to disclose anything about that," Friday only answered. "13% complete."

"Skin is the title of an SPN episode, where a shapeshifter takes the place of one of the main characters," Tony told them. "Clearly, Dean here thinks he can do the same if he kills me, therefore the trap. But you know how that episode ended, right?"

"Minor annoyance that you didn't come alone," the other Tony agreed. "But that only means I'll have to eliminate the witnesses as well. Cap's death will be on you, Tony."

"Friday, initiate Protocol Purge," Tony could barely avoid another hit while trying to talk so Steve and Bucky launched another attack.

"No can do, boss," Friday just told him. "15% complete."

"Protocol Leaf."

"Unavailable."

"Protocol Boot."

"The same. Analysis 20% complete."

"Protocol New New York," Tony seemed to have quite many backup plans.

"I'm sorry, boss."

"You still call me that, why?" Tony asked.

"Because she wasn't hacked," the impostor told him and used this information to distract Tony before launching an attack. "Nor am I a shapeshifter, or stole anything from you. If anything, I gave you a chance. One you failed spectacularly."

"Now you sound like my father," Tony only noted, but he couldn't even stand after the attack, so Bucky got there to help.

"But I'm not him. I'm you."

"I'll admit you seem to have some style," Tony said. "But we're nothing alike. And even if you kill us, people will notice."

"Maybe," the impostor told them, firing at all three of them simultaneously, and Bucky's side was already bleeding badly. "But then again, nobody will be in a position to arrest me. They gonna need my help pretty soon."

"43% complete."

"He's stalling, collecting data," Steve told them. "I say we attack with everything we got on three."

"We do that, and he'll only collect the data faster," Tony reminded.

"But-"

"I have a shitty idea," Bucky mentioned. "Why don't we ask Friday if he's really you, Tony?"

"He's not-"

"In every possible way that I can verify," Friday, however, already answered. "51%."

"Then he's an Avenger, just as the rest of us," Bucky tried to make sure. Although, what did they have to lose at this point?

"That's correct."

"And do you still have an official document I asked you to keep safe for me?" Bucky asked, and that only provoked the impostor to target Bucky with all the weapons at his disposal, but he could stand his ground just a little bit longer.

"Was that a trick question? 60%."

"Then file it, and restore and initiate the Mary Poppins Protocol," Bucky couldn't believe he'd be the one to evoke it, but the impostor Tony has told them as much.

He didn't need to hack Friday if for some reason in Friday's system he was regarded as Tony as well. But if that was true, the same rules applied to him as Tony, and not even he could get out of the Mary Poppins Protocol that was originally to keep any Avengers from fighting.

"Don't mind if I do! Data collection stopped at 68%," Friday said, and she sounded cheerful. Either she was still on their side, or she was a little bit sadistic or both. "Powering all weapons and Iron Man suits down. Let's sit down and talk about our differences as adults."

"WHAT?!" the impostor, of course, wasn't happy. "Friday, need I remind you that Operation Skin is the top priority and therefore-"

"Correction, boss," Friday told him. "You might outrank all the other Avengers, even yourself when giving orders, but once the Mary Poppins Protocol is initiated, I'm in charge, and I can't let any Avenger hurt another."

"That would mean you can't let them hurt me either," the impostor's eyes darted to the Bucky-Steve-Tony trio. "Or any other Avenger."

Who were all coming to them, led by Sam.

"The suits just froze, but we dismantled most of them just for fun," he explained to Steve. "Who is this Stark wannabe?"

And he asked Tony - the real one - guessing correctly it would be the one who stood by Bucky and Steve's side.

"Since one of the best ways to handle conflict is to face the truth," Friday started. "Let me introduce to you all Mr. Tony Stark - from the future."

"Come again?" Scott blinked.

"He isn't an impostor. He is Tony Stark, only from a couple of years later," Friday supplied them the information. "Or rather, he's from a future, because he changed this reality already compared to his past."

"So you took orders from him because he was Tony as well-" Steve asked her suspiciously.

"And not only that, but he had seniority," Friday explained.

"Well, well, old man," Tony turned to his - not really - impostor. "Notice that past tense?"

"Oh, good job, Number Five," the other Tony said with just as the same amount of sarcasm. "But you only succeeded in taking the control away from both of us. Or should I say, all the Avengers?"

"Good thing I've just resigned then," Bucky felt this moment was good as any to announce. "So I can still kick your ass or take you into custody, depending on how much fight you put up."

"First you kill my parents, destroy my family, just to arrest me next? Real classy, if you ask me, Major Payne," the other Tony huffed. "But go ahead, I'll be out and you'll be dead soon enough."

"You'd have to go through me to get to him," Tony declared, and Bucky couldn't help but smile hearing that.

"It wasn't a threat, just a simple fact," the other Tony said. "Since I know what's going to happen, being from the future and all."

"It's not our future, Friday had said as much," Steve pointed out.

"No, because I came back, and changed a couple of things to help you all out," the impostor Tony said.

"Is that what you think you're doing?" their Tony was laughing.

"I've arranged for you to have everything you need to stop Thanos. Connections to the X-men, free time, and more advanced tech," the other Tony said. "But you're too busy having sex to really look at any of the research I've planted in your R&D reports, and your suit isn't even where mine was, at this time."

"I'll gladly take apart the suit you've just used," Tony offered.

"Don't you get it? That also wasn't enough. It's nanotech, but even using that, Thanos didn't deem me worthy of killing. Funny, because he didn't have the same problem with half of the galaxy, but hey."

"But you can time-travel," their Tony seemed to have paled hearing that, but went on trying to extract information the same. "And he can't."

"Could with the Time Stone, if he knew I did. That's what I'm trying to explain. He's too strong, and if you want any chance of defeating him, you'll have to come crawling back to me, locked up or not-"

Bucky had enough of the threats, and generally how this other Tony has affected Tony, so deciding they've heard enough, he knocked the impostor out.

"What are you doing? He was telling us everything," Tony looked at him.

"We have no way of verifying he was," Steve reminded him. "At least right now. Maybe I can contact the Prof and see, but for now, I think Bucky's right and we've heard enough."

"What should we do with him?" Bucky wondered out loud.

Normally, they let Fury and SHIELD take the bad guys, but the only person who could stop an older Tony Stark - if that part was true - from escaping was probably Tony himself. If he could, that is.

"We'll tell Fury most of what had happened, and take him back with us to the Tower," Tony sighed.

"You can't be serious!" Steve stared at him. "Any room you'd lock him he'd get out!"

"I haven't said anything about him being a prisoner," Tony shrugged. "He's right and we do need him."

Bucky rarely got angry anymore, but when it came to the safety of Steve, even if it was Tony, he could still see red.

"If not for the reinforced protection of the Bambiraptor suit, Steve would be dead already!" he told Tony. "He admittedly wouldn't hesitate to kill any of us-"

"But will have no reason to hurt me, because two Tony Starks are still better than one, and I'll be keeping a close eye on him. That is if there are no long-term effects of the paradox of the two of us occupying the same time," Tony seemed to have made up his mind already. "Other than that, he's right, and you and Steve are only distracting me of what's important."

"Don't say things you don't mean," Bucky knew Tony didn't, but it wasn't a comfort.

"You and Steve can keep my room, I'll just get another."

"Tony, if you came here to his trap alone as he thought you would, he would have killed you and taken your place!" even Steve seemed upset. "So you can break up with us anytime you want, but if you think for a minute I'd leave you alone with him, you're gravely mistaken!"

"Half of the galaxy, he said!" Tony only yelled back at Steve. "Even if he killed me, but saved just Earth, I'd help him, don't you understand? You would do the same if it came to it, Rogers, don't even try to deny it!"

"There is no guarantee you can figure a solution, even working with him," Bucky tried to keep himself from telling Tony he was incompetent - again, just as he did only a couple of hours ago, but still articulating the problem.

"All the more reason for me to stop wasting my time then."

"He's obsessed and dangerous. Probably knows how to push your buttons to do exactly what he wants you to do," Steve tried to reason. "At least he's not so familiar with us."

"No offense Steve," Tony turned back to Steve. "But when exactly would you even have the time to act as my bodyguard anyway? When you're barely in the country?"

"Stop it!" Bucky stood in between them. "He might not have the time, but I do."

"And you, don't even start," Tony looked at him with an agitated expression. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you weren't capable of predicting the future the last time I've checked. Which means you had your resignation from the Avengers so conveniently at hand because you wanted to leave. Probably without telling us."

"I'm sure that happened before we started dating," Steve suggested.

"Let me ask Friday then," and Tony was about to.

"I wrote it just last week," Bucky admitted as if the blow could have been softened if he told them, not her. "But not for the reason you think."

"Then why?" Steve asked. "Am I the only person in this relationship who thought we were doing well, even though we were always dealing with some shit normal people never do? Just look at today, another fake Tony showing up, claiming he was from the future..."

"Well?" Tony pressed.

"It's not because of you two," Bucky repeated himself, but he also couldn't just come out and say the real reason, so it only made him look like a liar.

"We deserve an explanation," Steve told him, and Bucky could never disappoint Steve when he was looking at him like that, but what could he possibly say when the answer was just as much if not all the more disappointing?

"It was just a precaution. I thought Winter might not be as gone as we previously thought," he said. "So just to make sure I could leave if it wasn't safe for me to stay any longer, I wrote that letter to Fury.

"And you thought devising an escape plan, but leaving us none the wiser as to what happened to you was the solution?" Tony was shaking, possibly because he so angry.

"Prof X had spent 16 hours in your mind and cleared you," Steve didn't look happy with the turn of events either.

"I know, but lately Winter's memories seem to be more pronounced and clear, and it's not just the nightmares anymore either, I sometimes feel like I'm him, doing what he does, and at that moment, it seems just as real as me being... well, only me."

"That could be the paradox, actually," Tony quietly told him. "After all, if you mess with things you don't fully understand like time, there will be consequences."

"Then how come we aren't affected?" Steve asked.

"We might be different than how we're supposed to be, but overall, we're still us. If Bucky is a completely different person altogether though, that can be a problem."

"So you're saying what I see aren't memories of the past, but what I would be doing right now in our original timeline?" Bucky tried to understand. That would mean Winter wasn't back, but also that he was going crazy anyway, even if there was a completely sane explanation as to why.

"Perhaps," Tony shook his head.

"You should have told us right away," Steve said, and Bucky hated himself for hurting him so badly, just as Tony, who wouldn't say anything, but maybe wouldn't be so convinced his other self was right if Bucky did the right thing.

Usually, it wasn't so hard - doing the right thing often was the same Bucky would have done anyway to protect/cheer up/help Steve anyway in the past, and now Tony as well. In this case, however, he kept silent because he didn't want them to worry over what could turn out basically nothing.

But as a result, even though Bucky had just won a battle, it seemed like he also just might have forfeited the war.


	4. Red Team, Blue Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this other Tony isn't entirely our Tony either, because for some reason he used the Pym particles not to collect the Stones ~~but to mess up our trios perfect life!!!~~
> 
> Admittedly, I have changed a part of this chapter - the reason why I deleted the work in the first place. 
> 
> Then I figured I could still write it if I fixed a couple of tiny details that were making me craaazy, and now I'm working on actually finishing this!
> 
> XOXO

Since the Serum has barred the possibility of Steve getting sick, the only possible explanation for his nausea and pain (not to mention bone-deep exhaustion) was that it was all in his head.

He wanted to be there for Bucky, but he trusted him more with the Winter Soldier than he trusted Tony with his other-self.

Prof X had drawn up what he called a "brief report of the possible future" he saw in other Tony's memories, which was 400+ pages.

It confirmed that this other Tony wasn't lying when he said half of their galaxy would be killed, but it didn't suggest any possible solution for their problems - no matter how many times Steve made Friday read it to him.

Every other day, he had witnessed or overheard an argument between Fury, the Avengers, the X-men, the government, the UN, and other interested parties like the Ancient One, trying to reach at least some form of agreement on how and what they should do with the threat at hand.

Everyone seemed to have an opinion, but they accomplished the same as the report, and only the older Tony had a plan, so finally, most agreed to let him work, and the rest were made to accept.

Steve didn't think it was a good idea for several reasons, but it's not like he could voice any. Not after the 400 pages that also contained 30 detailing how Steve was a criminal in their original timeline. Got tagged as one because of Bucky and even fought Tony to save him.

Steve couldn't imagine ever hurting Tony like that, but he wasn't talking to Steve. And even if Steve pushed for a talk, how do you apologize for something you didn't even technically do?

Even if he said he couldn't do the same things other Steve did in another timeline, it would be his word against his doubles actions, or at least he knew that's how Tony would see it deep down.

And the Other Tony? He used these 400 pages as currency. First, he established Thanos as the problem, and then he put himself up as the only possible solution.

So not only wasn't he persecuted, but gradually managed to get access to the computers, tools, the workshop, money, and then the worst: people.

Pepper, Happy, Vision, Bruce, Rhodey, Fury, Hank, Shuri, and even their Tony were now all working for him. Bucky, on the other hand, was banned from the lab completely.

Steve wasn't welcomed either, but the consensus was that the alternate-future Tony - while needed - was dangerous, and someone who wasn't partial to him at least should keep an eye on him.

Funny how that only a couple of days ago wouldn't have meant Steve, but he accepted.

Even though he couldn't monitor when other Tony would take Friday over again - if he hasn't already - or build another suit, program, AI without technical knowledge, he could monitor the older Tony's interaction with their Tony.

"This is the biggest load of crap that I think I've ever seen. And I've seen shit. I can't believe my mother gave birth to you as well. You should be ashamed-" other Tony started, so Steve only stepped between them then, blocking the view of his Tony with his frame.

"If you need something to be redone or adjusted, just say so," he warned Other Tony simply. "You only have a place here because we all understand how important it is that we make progress, so stressing people out all the more doesn't make any sense."

"It does. I do feel instantly better," this impostor Tony just told him with an irritated smile. "And I thought your job was to brighten the room, by the way, and not interfere."

"I'm not going to-"

"Steve, he's right," his Tony put an arm on Steve's shoulder. It wouldn't have mattered before, but now that it was the only time Tony had touched him in weeks, Steve found himself tensing up, thinking it was all but just a strategy to get rid of him. "It's how I communicate. Any other way will only slow us down, and it's fine. Really."

He also pulled Steve aside before adding.

"And I can't forbid him to talk to you, so I'd prefer if you didn't provoke him."

 _Provoke?_ Steve wanted to ask, but that would have just pitted them against each other, and maybe that was what Other Tony wanted.

So Steve did his best to try and disappear after that.

It would only make sense if Steve felt sick, even if he wasn't really, as an indicator that he just betrayed some of his convictions he was never willing to compromise on, and that didn't sit well with him.

But then Tony had to leave since he still had responsibilities concerning his company. As a safety precaution, time-traveling Tony wasn't allowed anywhere near any electronics nor the lab in his absence.

He was a prisoner in a cell that doubled as a Faraday cage, got meals three times a day, delivered by SHIELD agents who weren't allowed in, and Steve was his personal guard.

"Since I have nothing else to do, why don't we have a chat, Cap. Just you and me now, anyway, no audio, no video, no witnesses."

"I have nothing to say to you," Steve tried to honor his Tony's request.

The room itself was quite safe, so he was the weakest part of old Tony's prison now, and he didn't want to give him any chance for an intellectual attack.

"Then maybe this once I get you to finally just listen," the other Tony happily announced. "If you truly love _him_ as you claim, you're doing him a disservice, you know."

Steve didn't acknowledge the comment in any way.

"You're keeping him from his real aspirations and peers. Who can understand what he's saying, or God forbid, challenge him."

"Intellect is just one thing," Steve told him before he could restrain himself again.

"True. You're also keeping him from having a family."

"He has one."

"Oh, is that what you think you are? Is that why you keep watching me day or night, thinking I'm the bad guy?"

Steve didn't say anything, thinking he already fell into the trap, so there was no need to start digging too.

"You weren't there when I had to fight Thanos. I lost a teenage boy crying in my arms, and you weren't there, even though you promised. So when I figured time travel out, even though I could have gone back and collected the Stones with the others, all I could think about was how none of that would have happened if not for the Winter Soldier."

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Steve knew what it was like to lose someone, even if he had doubts that sentiment was comforting to Tony under the circumstances. "But as I see it, what happened didn't just stem from one false step, our Bucky is nothing like the Winter Soldier once you get to know him, and the Steve you want to tell all this isn't really me. I'm loyal to my Tony and no 400 report on our future can change that."

"Yeah, almos forgot how much of a hypocrite you always were," impostor Tony pulled the face. "Like the time when you went into the ice."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve knew he shouldn't have even asked, but he already said it before he could think about it twice.

"Truth is, you need the war. It's hard to be so perfect, so heroic, and so muscular without an enemy. You went down with the ship because you knew it was over."

"As if your appearance made my early retirement any easier!" Steve scoffed.

"Okay, then what about the time you already betrayed Tony?" Tony walked up to him so close their noses were almost touching. "How do you explain that?"

"You're delusional. No such thing happened."

"You've ordered Nat to close the portal, Cap," this older version of Tony told him with a scornful look. "You think your Tony forgot that? Think again."

"And you think I've forgotten?" Steve asked.

"You sure act like it."

"I still have nightmares about it, just as about every mistake I have ever made on the field. Every single time when more people could have been saved or fewer people could have been hurt. When I could have done more, moved faster, taken a little bit more or less risk, should have come up with a better strategy, or-"

"None of our jobs are easy, and quite frankly, I couldn't really care less about an old man's regrets," Other Tony stopped him. "I resent you because when it came to the safety of others, you chose to sacrifice me for it."

"I had no choice."

"Not Barnes, though. When it was him, suddenly you weren't leaving anyone behind. Actually, I'm grateful for that. It made it pretty clear where I stand with you," Tony said, and smiled a bitter smile.

Steve just stood there, heart beating out of his chest. This Tony was right. And also so very wrong. And while this Tony wasn't his Tony, Steve didn't have to guess how much their opinion on the topic had to be the same.

New York happened the same way in both of their timelines. Before this Tony changed his past. Their future.

"You're right. I don't treat Bucky and Tony the same, but not for the reason you think."

"You just can't stop, can you? Must be so hard when someone isn't under your charms anymore, and they can see through you."

"I ordered Nat to close the portal exactly because I didn't want it to be closed."

"Because that makes sense!" Tony was sarcastically laughing now, but Steve tried to ignore it and tell him what he wanted anyway

"I feared my judgment was amiss. That I only considered taking chances with the future of the entire human race for one man because I was... too close and therefore not only compromised but wrong."

"Don't make me laugh."

"And yes, I kept thinking about your future and the version of me who saved Bucky. Don't you think maybe he did it not just because it was the right thing to do, but because of the guilt he felt towards you after what happened with the portal?"

He didn't count on Tony suddenly lunging forward and physically attacking him, tackling him to the ground between punches if only to make him stop talking.

But even when Tony finally stopped, Steve could only wince, not being able to move. The pain he thought he only made up got at least a ten times worse, and he couldn't breathe properly.

Passing out, he realized that being locked up in a room with no surveillance also meant there no help coming since nobody knew something was up.

Except for a Tony who just wanted him to suffer as much as he was suffering inside with the memories of a hellish past that still could become all their future.


	5. The Road to Hell is Paved with?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "a robot nun with a machine gun" is actually a reference to a sci-fi book I've read last year, but loved so much it got stuck in my mind ;)

Tony had been around SI board politics, cybersecurity, and lived the “glamorous” Avenger life long enough to know if something could go wrong, it most certainly will. Sometimes not even in a way you thought it would too.

Your best chance was to prepare for the worst you could and play the rest by ear.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise Tony treated his relationships the same way.

Once AU Tony appeared, seemingly with an agenda that was likely to put Bucky - if not Steve - in harm's way, Tony chose what he thought was for the best.

Thinking that if they stayed out of the second Tony’s way, - out of sight out of mind - maybe they'd be safe. And that Tony always worked better if he was miserable was only a secondary bonus.

Except, when this strategy resulted in Tony coming back from a latest R&D meeting only to find Steve on an operating table, with Dr. Cho and Bruce both scrubbed in and standing by to assist... 

Only then did he realize how wrong he was. About everything.

“It wasn’t intentional,” other Tony has told him. “I swear. I lost my head only for a second. I never meant to… I didn’t know this would happen.”

“Or so you keep saying,” Tony hissed. “But you came here claiming you were All-Knowing and the Best-fucking-Chance-for-Earth-to-Survive, and you despise him.”

“He didn’t have a suit in my future. How was I supposed to know? I’m not a physician, and Steve hasn’t told anybody he was in pain.”

“Still, you trying to beat him into a pulp surely didn’t help his condition,” Tony was furious with his other self, but even more furious with himself.

It was easy to be smart after the fact, but Tony did notice that Cap’s suit was badly dented and that Steve was bleeding and pretty messed up when Tony took it off. 

But Steve only smiled and told him it was nothing compared to the damage he would have taken without the gear ("I'd probably be dead, Tony"), just a couple of cuts and broken ribs that were already mostly healed, and Tony didn’t stop to question it.

Otherwise, he should have sent Steve for a checkup right away.

Not to mention, if he didn’t rush Bambiraptor as Bucky told him not to, with time they could have figured out the risks.

Seemingly unimportant but vital details like if the suit gets hit by enough firepower to cause a dent, and Steve’s ribs heal before he’d have a chance to get home and take it off, then Steve’s bones would set wrong, for example.

Not only putting pressure on his organs, but causing constant internal bleeding as it happened, that only got worse when Steve was attacked by time-traveler Tony, and nobody was there to help.

Tony pulling away from Cap didn’t mean Steve was any safer, but only that he didn’t confide in Tony about the pain he must have been in, and that Tony wasn’t there when Steve would have needed him.

“Fuck this,” Tony had enough. “I’m gonna get Bucky right now, and not just because Steve’s hurt. I’m going to be with them no matter what you have to say about it.”

“I’m sorry about Steve,” his second self told him. “But I refuse to work in a lab where an unstable Hydra assassin roams free, and you need me.”

“No, and I only hope using Cap as a punching bag was worth you being locked up in a hole somewhere for the rest of your life,” Tony disagreed.

“You need my tech, if not my insight. I know everything you can possibly know in five years!”

“Except, you don’t. You base all your party tricks on your past, expecting everything will happen the same way, even though you admittedly changed the timeline.”

“Some patterns will always play out the same.”

“Annnnd that’s the reason why you lost to Thanos,” Tony told him, not even trying to hide his contempt with how the conversation was turning out. “If you think you can estimate what will happen in the future based on what happened in the past…“

“Isn’t that what everyone does?”

“… then you’ll never reach anything that was impossible before, even if it is now.”

“You’re just dressing up your emotions as reasonable decisions,” other Tony said, dismissing his logic with a frown. “The fact is that only I have nanotech, no shrapnel in my chest, and more than 24 new suit designs you’ve only dreamed of.”

“You said so yourself. No suit of yours was enough to stop Thanos,” Tony shrugged. “And even if you were our guaranteed way out, I wouldn’t want to take you up on it. What’s the point of defeating a monster if you only replace it with another?”

“You-“

But Tony didn’t listen. Instead, he managed to locate Bucky in the room they used to share and headed that way. He didn’t know how he’ll get the other two to ever forgive him, but he knew he’ll try.

Still, he wasn’t prepared to find Bucky sitting on the floor, in a dark corner, staring into nothing, not looking up when Tony entered to ask in a toneless voice.

“What are you doing here?”

“Steve is in surgery… he needs us,” Tony told him. “It’s my fault, I should have listened to you about Bambiraptor, paying attention-“

“Go to him then.”

“Not without you.”

“I thought you didn’t want me around. Neither of _you_ and maybe not even Steve,” Bucky gestured at himself, running a hand through his hair. “Besides, it’s not safe for me to. Winter was tasked to kill him.”

Tony knew. It was hard to ignore a report about how one of your partners was the assassin of the century, working for Hydra in an alternate universe.

“But you’d never hurt him,” Tony was sure. “I, on the other hand, already caused some serious damage. So I kinda need your help to fix it.”

Bucky just looked at him with an expression that was full of a mixture of emotions.

“It wouldn’t be safe. Call it quantum entanglement or mental illness, but I can’t trust my mind around Steve at the moment. _Please,_ just go. Your other knowledgeable self is only going to be more agitated if I was around-“

“Consider him gone. I shouldn’t have listened to him in the first place,” Tony sat next to the super-soldier, who gave a small laugh.

“Yes, you shouldn’t have.”

“And I’m sorry, Buck. I’ll keep apologizing my entire life if that means I’ll have you and Steve to apologize to. But it will never work without you. Not to mention, I kinda need fresh ideas on how to save the galaxy, and it was you who told me I couldn’t do everything by myself.”

“Working _with_ yourself, in this case?” Bucky wondered as if their biggest problem was semantics. “But the truth is, our relationship was just a lie, and it’s not your fault that it all fell so quickly apart.”

“Not for me it wasn’t.”

“Especially for you, but we share the blame the same,” Bucky looked into his eyes with a soft expression. “Tony, I love you, but don’t you think you believed your other self so readily because deep down you’ve always felt the same?”

“That I’m wasting my time if I dare to take time for my personal life as well?”

“That you can’t trust us,” Bucky gave a different answer. “And since I can’t trust myself at the moment either if I’m being honest, I don’t think I could convince you otherwise.”

“Prof X cleared you. The fact that we weren’t there for you lately doesn’t mean-”

“Wanna hear a joke? What do you get if you add a Hydra assassin and good enough sniper who worked his entire life to stop Hydra in one body and mind?”

“Buck…”

“Nothing! They cancel each other out. But imagine that ghost with a piss poor mood, some suicidal tendencies, and a very twitchy trigger finger.”

“Jesus, Barnes, you’re idea of a joke is as far behind as Cap’s fashion sense from a century ago,” Tony couldn’t help himself but say. “But then the joke’s on you because my other self felt he had a right to change the timeline in the way he wanted, acting on behalf of every human in the entire galaxy, so you can’t possibly top that no matter how twitchy any of your body parts become…”

Tony didn’t mean to flirt. But by then, Bucky’s expression wasn’t as gloomy as before, even if the black circles around his eyes were still undeniably there.

“It’s a wonder how Steve stays so sane around us, really.”

“I bet he’s taking it out on his kids or something.”

“Wow, and you dare to critique my sense of humor, Stark,” Bucky was facepalming in disbelief.

“Well, figured you must know something I don’t if you don’t even wanna visit him when he is in... you know… surgery?” Tony offered. “Because your lame excuses don’t really cut it.”

“I take it you’re also experiencing some bleedthrough from your complete asshole of an alternate self,” Bucky noted in return.

“We keep each other honest,” Tony shrugged. He felt like they were making progress, even if what they were saying with words, and what they were discussing without words were two different topics. “Or isn’t that why you love me? Just said it too.”

“ _Unfortunately_ it’s true.”

“Not even Thanos could keep me away from you and Steve. Never again,” Tony promised in return.

“I thought so because that’s the least you can do,” Bucky kissed him briefly before he also got up and gathered his hair in a bun, ready to go. “Aside from promising that if I suddenly fall silent or start speaking in Russian, you take away any knives or guns that I happen to have on me.”

“I’d body search you any time of the day, but we should really get back to Steve.” Tony didn’t know how long the surgery would last, but he wanted to be there when Cap woke up, and not just him alone.

Except, by the time they appeared with Bucky, Bruce rushed out of the OR to greet them.

"Take a surgical gown, a mask, and gloves, Steve wants you in there."

"Who?" Bucky wondered because it wasn't entirely clear.

"Both, what do you think? And hurry," Bruce seemed so shaken there was no room to argue.

However, Tony had to ask while dressing up.

"He woke up? Can't you knock him out with some drugs?"

"We're doing just that, but it's only effective for 5-10 minutes, and the surgery might still take hours."

"Hours?" Bucky paled.

"The doctor needs to reconstruct Steve's ribs that had healed wrong, so we had to break it somewhere else, and now it's all about trying to simultaneously fix the bleeding while implanting a small 3D printed synthetic bone supports that would hopefully help him heal correctly. And while Steve's strong, he isn't invulnerable, and... if the sedatives wash out of his systems so quickly, I suspect the painkillers are the same."

Tony could only nod in return, finding himself unable to speak.

And when they got there with Bucky, trying to not disturb the doctors, but still in Steve's field of vision, Steve only grabbed his hand.

"Thank God... you're both here."

"I'm so sorry Steve, this is all my fault," Tony could only say, that made Steve open his closed eyelids to give him a look.

"Listen, I'm going to be... alright. But I need... a distraction. Badly. Anything to take my mind off..."

What was happening.

Tony glanced at Bucky, not knowing what to say.

" _Well,_ Bucky's still not funny."

"Excuse you, but I'm only second in that category after you, Iron Man," Bucky corrected, and that made Steve chuckle, but also wince, while Bruce gave them a warning look. 

Which was a sign that they probably shouldn't make Steve laugh.

"Um, also something you missed: we're back together, and that includes you as well. Just thought you should know," Tony announced. "I kinda decided that, got rid of my evil twin, and once you're out of here, it's going to be back to normal. As much as we ever were, at least. Only with a lot of apologies from my side for how utterly stupid I've been. But certainly with a lot of make-up sex."

He was babbling and he knew it, but goddamn it, he wasn't even on the table, just heard the noises and saw the blood in the corner of his eyes, and only that was enough of a reason to try to distract Steve's mind from that.

"Maybe not so much sex for a while but very careful cuddling," Bruce suggested, not even looking at them.

"I've been told that's my middle name," Tony smirked, which only provoked another small laugh from Cap, so Bucky pushed him aside, and got the hold of Steve's hand instead.

"Look, Stevie, Tony just told me half of the galaxy still needs saving, so you're needed in top shape in the not so distant future."

"Can't give up... now then," Steve agreed with a small smile.

"No you can't," Tony couldn't help but agree. Almost as if he was giving an order, too.

"And please tell... Tony... that he is an idiot," Steve added. "I don't remember... agreeing to a... breakup."

"You better don't strain yourself by talking too much now, Steve," Tony reminded him, that came out a little bit harsher than expected, but it was either that or Tony getting emotional, and with the surgery going on, the second option would have been problematic.

"I've also just seen a brand new show out that's just amazing, and if not the holiday you promised to both of us, then we definitely should at least settle down with a bucket of popcorn for a couple of hours before the world ends," Bucky must have sensed that, so he diverted the topic graciously. "Wanna hear all about it?"

"Sure."

2 hours and 45 minutes later Steve was closed up and already through the worst, while Bucky was still in the middle of describing a huge fight-scene from the show, Dr. Cho gave Steve some sedatives once again saying he should try to rest, and Tony turned to Bucky.

"You've totally just made that show up." No cable or subscription service would put out something so weird and bizarre, though entertaining.

"No shit, what gave it away? The tree-children arc, or the robot nun with a machine gun?" Bucky said with a tired groan.

"So the super-secret classes that you were taking online - is it possible they have something to do with creative writing?" Tony only wondered. He had been dying to know, but Bucky wanted to keep it a secret for some reason.

"Not that it matters anymore, since I dropped out," Bucky told him. "But it had nothing to do with writing."

"Then what was it?" Tony tried. "How can I encourage you to re-apply again if I don't know what it is?"

"Never mind, it was stupid anyway," Bucky shrugged.

"Or you just don't want to share after I just basically pushed for a breakup and then also to get back together," Tony was half berating himself, and also half trying to use that as a card.

"It was just coaching, 'kay? For sports and stuff like that. I used to box back in the day and figured maybe I could help people exercise well if I ever... but with Winter it's too dangerous anyway. And even if that wasn't-"

Tony didn't say anything, because all he wanted to do was just to reach out for the super-soldier and kiss him, but with the chaotic last couple of hours if not weeks, he settled for a hug instead.

"If nothing else, I could always use a boxing coach."

"Tony, at least you could wait 5 minutes after I've told you until you start making dirty jokes."

"This once, I'm not," Tony told him, although he was smiling since some unsolicited comments that came to mind now that Bucky had mentioned them. "I hear I owe Thanos a punch in the face, and I wanna make it count."


	6. But In The End

Winter wasn't taking over. Bucky didn't lose time or felt compelled to do anything he otherwise wouldn't do. Unfortunately, that didn't mean Bucky was himself.

He used to be just a simple kid from Brooklyn, who could still tell right from wrong, even if he often came off as opinionated in return. Even after being captured and tortured by Hydra, he continued to fight on Steve's side because for one, it was Steve, and second, he was so sure their cause was just that if there was no choice but to die for it, he would have.

In this new era though, with all the memories and flashes he had of Winter, he could no longer trust himself. Every reaction that should have been automatic could have been the ones Hydra conditioned him to do, so he had to be extremely careful. 

Second-guessing his every decision wasn't just exhausting, but it also made him feel like he was gradually fading away. 

Even if he appreciated doing small but simple tasks like cooking, when was it really his style to play housewife when Steve was still risking his life every day?

It was unthinkable for Bucky before that he would ever lose sight of Steve for so long that Steve would need surgery. Even if he had to drag the little punk to the doctor by force. 

But now he was too busy trying to avoid any stimulus that could trigger another flash from Winter's side to notice Steve was sick. 

"Is everything OK with you, Buck?" Tony had a holo notebook, busy working even on Steve's bedside, but now he was looking at Bucky with undivided concern.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Bucky almost sarcastically asked.

"You did say I should check in with you sometimes," Tony gave him a small smile. "And you looked positively murderous for a second there, if not eerily quiet."

"I'm not turning to Winter just yet," Bucky first said, but then added. "But I'm fucking furious. With myself."

"Tell me about it," Tony only gave him a knowing look. "And when I say I'm angry with myself, it applies both for me, and the second Tony, who is even more of an asshat than I am, so..."

The way he said it still made Bucky laugh, no matter everything else.

"I say we should let him deal with Fury, the UN, and Thanos," Bucky proposed in a similarly joking manner. "Meanwhile, we could travel to a deserted island with no electricity, and spend the time we have until the snap away from all... this."

"Have you been watching Lost now or something?"

"What?"

"Never mind," Tony smiled. "It's not a bad idea, but before we do that, I wanna try something else."

"Oh?" Bucky grinned back.

"If you keep looking at me like that, I won't able to work," Tony warned, but then looked at Steve, and got quite serious once again. "I'm running simulations of the effects of a new super-soldier serum, and it's almost ready. So far the data suggests it's something even better than what Steve received in the Stone Age, and once we've determined it's completely safe, we could all become super-people in this relationship, how about that?"

"I can't believe it," Bucky huffed. "You want to test it on yourself."

"Don't worry, it's 99,99% sure I won't turn green," Tony told him.

"How reassuring."

"You did say you wanted me to be stronger, so with the threat we're facing..."

"I wanted you safe, not to become someone you aren't," Bucky told him, but Tony just frowned.

"And what? Live a good 30-40 years if I’m lucky, and die while you and Steve probably won't even age another 10?"

"I'm not sure whether you've heard, but I have less than 1 until the snap," Bucky only said.

"I'll figure a way to stop that, but it's hardly the point."

"No, I guess it isn't," Bucky agreed. "But it always starts like this. There's a fight you cannot win, so you make a seemingly small sacrifice. Except that's not it. Coincidentally, that's also why you become somebody else's target and feel like it's up to you to save the planet, galaxy, the whole fucking timeline next. If you do this-"

"Normal life isn't for me, Buck. It hasn't been for a long time. If ever," Tony only told him. "So why not make the most of it? I'll live longer. Become even sexier. Won't need to rely on tech so much either."

It was like jumping in front of a speeding train to save someone when you knew very well it was already too late.

"If there was a way to undo what they did to me, I'd do it. In a blink," Bucky tried to keep his voice down. Funny, he never expected he'd want to yell at someone so badly about how reckless they were when Steve was already out cold. But he had a type, didn't he? "Power is only useful up to a point."

"If Steve was in grave danger, wouldn't you want anything you could get to save him?"

"You know I would," Bucky gave Tony a look. "But he'd never forgive me if I risked my life instead. And if you wanna do this just to save me from the snap then don't."

"Oh, I'm not!" Tony stated. "I also want to live longer just like you and Steve."

"Funny, because currently Steve is the one who'll probably outlive us both, and how much free time does he get?"

"It's his choice."

"Well it wasn't a choice for me," Bucky said, but then quickly changed the subject. "And you still have shrapnel in your chest. I doubt it's safe for you to take the Serum like that."

"That's why I'm scheduled to have a minor operation first. Tomorrow."

Hearing that Tony had already arranged for it without asking them first felt like a betrayal.

"You know Steve won't like it, so you rush it when he can't do anything about it?"

"It's a surgery I've been putting off way too long, anyway," Tony only shrugged, but Bucky knew it was his way of hiding how tense he was sometimes. "And I'm not doing it to go behind his back but exactly because he just almost died."

"Do the surgery, if it isn't too dangerous," Bucky wondered if he ever saw Tony this scared, even if he was doing a good job at covering it up. So he thought he shouldn't come down hard on him, icing the topic for the moment. "But wait until Steve gets better so we can discuss the Serum-"

"Actually, with the Serum, I'll recover faster. It only makes sense to do it now, with all the medical staff on standby anyway. It's also less risky."

Bucky didn't say anything, his mind still racing.

"Look, I know you don't agree, but it would be nice to have someone with me before they put me under. And I doubt Steve would be up for it, so I can only ask you."

Bucky didn't want Tony to go through any surgery alone, but he wasn't about to just shut up and smile about it as if he supported Tony to make such a life-altering decision on what could be just a lingering effect of the shock. Seeing Steve so vulnerable on a table, in so much pain.

"Just... wait a couple of days! Why can't you postpone it until things settle with Steve first?"

"My opinion won't change no matter what Steve thinks," Tony told him now scowling. "And suit yourself, because I'm going through with it, with or without you. I just assumed you'd be there if I needed someone no questions asked..."

"I'm supporting you the best I know how," Bucky tried to tell him, but only got a snort in return.

"Well!" Tony became so agitated that he wasn't keeping his voice low. "If that's truly your best then maybe your best is NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

"Well, watch out, because this loser will still stop you," Bucky hated this, but for the longest time since he could remember, he wasn't so sure about any choice, so he wasn't about to back down either, no matter how Tony tried to push.

"I'd like to see you try," Tony stormed out, leaving Bucky to think that there was indeed not much he could do.

But then, as he was sitting there, holding Steve's hand, he knew that in a similar situation Bucky Barnes before Hydra would have moved mountains for any member of his family or even the Howlies. So the least he could do was live up to a 100-year-old reputation.

"Are you here to kill me?" the older Tony asked in the darkness of his cell when Bucky - using Winter's skills if not muscle memory - broke him out, taking out the guards just as the state of the art security system.

"Not at the moment," Bucky said. Even if this Tony beating up Steve didn't aspire him to like the man standing in front of him any better, to say at least. "Do you want to kill me?"

"Before I answer that, maybe you should tell me why you're here in the middle of the night."

"I have a job for you."

"Not interested."

"You're lying," Bucky could only hope.

"I might have to live out the rest of my life in this hole, but I'll never join Hydra."

That was so unexpected Bucky had a hard time trying not to burst out laughing.

"Your younger self has a new type of Serum ready. I assume you've worked with him on that as well, so you know your way around the bio-lab to set it up for yourself? I'll help, but we have to do it tonight, not get caught, and erase all the related data once we're done."

But, as Bucky was ready to go, instead of wasting more time, time-traveler Tony hadn't even got up from his bed.

"Why? Why help me? If it's not a trap for what I did to the good Captain-"

"I love Tony the way he is, but he thinks the only one who can stop Thanos is a super-Tony, so I'm giving him one. Let's go."

Impostor Tony eyed him for a long time but then only chose to talk again once they were already in the lab, preparing everything.

"You know in this century it's not your prerogative to make choices for other people? He'll never forgive you."

"I think you'd be faster if you talked less," he only said, earning a chuckle from Tony.

"I'm genius enough to do both since I'm not working with my mouth."

"I have seen you do just that as well," Bucky only grinned to hide how his legs were shaking. "Quite a sensation."

Even if the Serum was a success, he _did know_ how Tony would react, and to think he was destroying everything they had together was almost unbearable. But the only thing left to do.

Meanwhile, this Tony only frowned, imitating gagging noises.

"Not gonna happen, Barnes, no even in a hundred years..." But, he also just shut up after that, which fit Bucky's mood better.

After, it was dubious what the newly freed - but still dangerous and now bigger - Tony would do next, but when he didn't attack Bucky, and only held out a hand for a shake, Bucky was almost disappointed, even if also glad to catch a break.

Not from his Tony though, and the recuperating Steve, when they showed up just minutes after impostor Tony had deleted all the data and research they had that made the Serum possible.

"What the fuck, Buck?!" his Tony yelled, typing away faster than to keep eye-contact, desperately trying to get back the data, but most of it was already overwritten anyway.

"I can't believe it," Steve looked wobbly on his feet still, so Bucky jumped to give him a hand, but Steve didn't even register it, too busy staring at other Tony now.

"I guess I was wrong. Barnes should have been on the team right from the start, I like his approach," second Tony declared with a smile. "That said, I'm positively starving, so I'm going to see what's in the fridge."

And, with him leaving, only awkward silence remained, until their Tony had salvaged everything he could, and turned to Bucky, saying it barely audible, but all the more it was breaking Bucky's heart.

"You have some nerve."

"I'm sorry," Bucky meant it.

"Sorry?! What am I supposed to do with that? Now a _criminal_ is walking around with all that power I'm supposed to have, and you betrayed not only my trust but everyone in this timeline..."

"I'm sorry I had to do that, but I'm not sorry it's done," Bucky corrected. "If you don't ever wanna talk to me again, I understand."

"Stop fucking tell me what to do!" Tony snapped, and in return, Bucky only shut up and would have motioned for Steve to do the same, but Steve didn't.

"Just to be clear: Tony wanted to take the Serum, while you gave it to the other one?"

Bucky knew if Steve was to take his side on this, it meant they'd break up with Tony as well, and he didn’t want that. So he lied.

"I guess I didn't want a super-Tony as competition."

"Friday, arrange for a security detail to come here and transfer Mr. Barnes into a cell that was just vacated," Tony only spoke up, turning away, making Steve say.

"You gotta know he's lying! And you can't just lock him up..."

"It.Doesn't. Matter! He freed a madman, and got rid of the only available advantage we had against Thanos, I dare you to tell me that's not a crime!" Tony yelled but promptly stopped when Steve got there to hug him next.

Bucky wondered if he should have done this ages ago. If him pulling back from the relationship could have meant the other two were better off as they seemed now, while he was escorted to a cell he could have easily escaped, but didn't have any intention to. 

Not even when Super Tony appeared a couple of days later.

"Wanna get out of here?"

"I'm right where I should be."

"Okay, in case you change your mind, you could work for me though."

"And why would I ever do that?" Bucky only sarcastically asked, but got a reply all the same.

"Because I'm the only one who isn't intimated by your Tony, and nowadays that's saying something."

Bucky began to immediately worry, but he needed to remind himself that Tony still had Steve, so they'll be just fine. That said, it was hard not to lose his mind with nothing to do.

"Is this work something I can do from here, or what?"

"It's not, but there's a chance you only have months to live, so why waste it in here," Tony opened the door of his cell. "Don't get me wrong, it's not pity. I have trouble hiring people with basically no budget, and you already know I can be a royal pain in the ass, so it won’t come as a shock. It's only practical."

And, it worked. Other Tony had a complete floor to himself, so it's not like Bucky bumped into his Tony or Steve, and at least he was doing something remotely useful again. 

Except, of course, when one day, Bucky was one second carefully dismantling a damaged repulsor for spare parts, relying on Friday's instructions, and the next, he found himself faced with his Tony. Who got the wrong impression when he saw Bucky with tech that could be possibly dangerous.

"Put the tools down, right now, and let me see your hands. How did you escape? I update your security protocol every day."

Of fucking course.

"This Tony pulled me out to run some errands for him," Bucky put up his hands anyway. "I didn't know he didn't tell you, I swear."

"So what, are you fucking him now? Or, rather, with his size, is it the other way around?" Tony seemed to stand down, but not with his questions, and the look he was giving Bucky.

"No."

"So you're fucking him, then?"

"I meant no, there's no fucking at all!" Bucky told him, annoyed, even by the suggestion.

"But you hang out, like best friends, or what?" Tony was still there, and Bucky wasn't sure he had an answer that would calm him.

"Mostly he just yells at me through the comms if he needs snacks. If he doesn't use me as a punching bag saying it's "training" as if after the Serum, his reflexes aren't even better than..."

But Tony surely didn't need to hear about how well his impostor was physically doing, so Bucky fell silent, except Tony was still staring at him before saying.

"Just so you know, I had the surgery anyway. And the Serum is almost reconstructed once again, although it took time we don't have. Bruce says he could give me even a bigger dose than what this Tony got, and Rhodey, Nat, Clint, Sam, Scott also are willing to volunteer as test subjects."

So, all that Bucky did only accomplished that Tony would risk a bigger dose now, trying to get the upper hand.

" _Don't,_ " Bucky's voice was barely a whisper, because he had no right to ask anything anymore from Tony, but at the same time, he couldn't just watch it happening any better than a couple of weeks ago.

"Oh but rest assured I definitely will," Tony seemed determined. "Especially now that you just proved I can only truly rely on myself, and nobody else."

"In that case... good luck, Tony," Bucky could only say.

"I don't need it," Tony walked out, not even sparing a second glance at him. But at least it also meant he didn't demand Bucky to be locked up again, and Bucky was grateful for that small miracle.

Not expecting Steve to show up a couple of days later, also bringing him lunch.

"Don't come any closer, or Tony think you'll a traitor too."

"He knows I'm here," Steve sat down. "But I promised you we'll spend some quality time together once I've talked with Fury, and so far I've done nothing to live up to that promise."

"No Steve, I don't want you to have to pick sides or be caught in the middle of anything. Just... take care of Tony, that's all I ask," Bucky sighed. Their relationship was over, but he wanted the best for both of them.

"He's all over the place, you know. And only now do I realize how you were always there to get to him if he needed someone, and how badly I suck when I try." 

"You'll manage."

"Point is, I don't want to. Not without you."

Bucky just rather started the plate Steve got him than say anything next, and Steve also busied himself with the food, until their Tony appeared as well, with an attitude, but bringing a chair also.

"I needed to finish up first, but if you thought even for a second that I'll let Steve have lunch with you alone, you're wrong," Tony told him. "And I haven't had time to eat since yesterday, so I'm taking your food, Barnes. What's left of it, anyway."

"Tony, there's plenty more in-" Steve started, but Bucky wasn't hungry anyway, so he just put his plate in front of Tony.

"Here."

"Also, I don't trust you working with super-Tony, so I hired someone who will take over your errands."

"Is this your way of saying I'll be escorted back to a cell again?" Bucky wondered.

"No it's not," Steve just stared at Tony, who also said.

"No, of course not. But any time you even randomly think about pulling something like this again, you won't need any escort, I'll lock you up there myself, and tell Friday to throw away the key forever, got it?"

"I'll leave the country. Maybe the continent, don't worry," Bucky decided. He only needed rent for less than 10 months, when the snap was due.

"I don't remember any discussion about anyone moving," Tony, however, only gave him a nasty look. "Or do you think I'll let you make calls like that on our behalf?"

"He's trying to say we've talked about it, and he wants you back," Steve helped out the confusion. "We both do."

Bucky hated how quickly his heart started beating out of his chest hearing that, even if he knew that was not all.

"And then what? Tony's still going to take the Serum, and I'm expected to not mention it?" he asked.

"He's-" Steve started, but Tony was quicker to talk.

"You wanted me to make a decision that wasn't rushed, and wait until I can discuss it with Steve, and I'm not and I did. So now it's your turn to accept I will do what I see is for the best."

It was more of a chance than Bucky supposed he'd ever get, but he also knew how Tony had trust issues, and his actions didn't help foster any between them, even if Tony said it was fine.

"I would do just that-"

"Great, then we're back together."

"But-"

"But what?" Tony seemed defensive, and on edge, and that was exactly the point.

"Will you be able to ever trust me? Truly, and not just say you do?" Bucky hated how he had to ask. 

"If you accept we've already voted on the Serum then yes," Tony seemed adamant, while Bucky still had his doubts. "So can you do that?"

"Yes. I respect your decision, but that doesn't change the fact that I've messed up-"

"Good. Because you didn't really. Mess up, I mean. You put us all through probably weeks of agony, but I'm guessing that was also my fault, so to be fair, next time we have an argument, I'd rather just Friday locked us in a room again," Tony, on the other hand, told him, being quite confusing about the whole thing.

"He was only testing you," Steve told Bucky, "He won't take the Serum, he's already working on something else we can use against Thanos and his army."

Bucky only stared at Tony in disbelief.

"Technically, I didn't say I'm going to take it, only said I know what I'm going to do," Tony smiled at him mischievously.

"I didn't think you'd change your mind," Bucky admitted.

"Nor did I, but then Dr. Pym made a comment about time-traveler Tony and how his new physique only showcased how he was Howard's son, and I remember thinking how he was right and that could have been me, and I just felt... relief."

"You're working with Pym? I thought Scott said-" Bucky was surprised.

"Shuri is. The rest of us only were there to negotiate the terms he was willing to accept some kind of a deal just in case we'd need to time-travel again. But what I'm saying is-"

"I think I get it, Tony," Bucky tried, not feeling comfortable with an explanation that almost went as far as an apology either just yet.

"...you knew me better than I knew myself, I guess, and still accepted me the way I was, even if I'm not perfect by any means..."

"Neither is Steve, just because he's big," Bucky glanced at Steve who smiled back. "And don't even let me get started on me because..."

But Tony kissed him then, and he couldn't help but fervently kiss back, just to find Steve really close next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession:
> 
> So, yes. When I was drafting this story out, I originally wanted to make Tony super-Tony to match his husbands (isn't that basically what they are? XD) and defeat Thanos, but then I decided to make it a plot how that's not a solution.
> 
> Thank you all very much for reading!


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